i.e. someone who loves the product, knows about the product, and is able to pitch the product in different ways to different audiences (techy users, developers, etc.). This person would also know how to demonstrate the best features of the product.
Which is larger? The number of people who would object to "what is your gender" on weird-ass gender politics grounds, or the number of people who would object to "how do you wish to be identified?" on the grounds that it's ridiculous politically correct pandering to weirdoes? I don't just "wish to be identified" as a man... I am a man, and I have the external sexual organs, facial hair, Adam's apple and XY chromosomes to prove it.
Someone's always gonna complain, no matter what you do.
This fixes the issue of "there's more to gender than male/female/other", but it doesn't fix the issue of "women might not want to get sexualized comments sent to them".
Lets propose that you have a child, and in your wisdom, decide that letting your child roam on the streets is low risk and thus ok.
Do you then proclaim to everyone that they must let their children roam alone on the streets as the real risk is low?
What is important is people have a choice to act on their perceived risks. In your example, the ability to wear clothes to hide their gender is their choice, it is not imposed on them.
In this case, they do not have a choice that is sufficiently suitable.
Guys, lets not get carried away by the issue here.
The issue is NOT about gender identification. It is Google+ not providing the ability to hide your gender on your profile (I won't say they're FORCING you to post your gender).
The issue of Gender Identification is merely an example provided to justify the usage of such a feature. So let's avoid a massive gender debate here, when you can read all about it in the post itself.
There absolutely should be an option to hide gender on your profile. I was lucky to get a +1 invite early but didn't create an account because of this issue.
Here's why: I'm a hacker. I do freelance work for a living. I avoid all references to my gender in anything work-related because it creates too much extra mental overhead. Instead of focusing on getting things done I end up wondering whether a disagreement on a technical issue would disappear if I was male. Or wondering if I didn't get a contract because I'm female. Or (worse) if I got a contract because of affirmative action or because a company is trying to cultivate an open forward-thinking culture, rather than for my technical ability.
It isn't that I want to hide that I am female, exactly, its just that it doesn't have any affect on the quality of my work, but disclosing the fact that I am female unfortunately can create unrelated complications that get in the way of doing my job.
Don't you think you are doing other females a disservice by doing quality work and hiding the fact that you are a female? Maybe you'll have to deal with those headaches you describe now, but then maybe you can make it easier for your daughter, or inspire other young female hackers. Isn't that worth it?
I can appreciate it if you aren't up for this fight, but think of it like this: wouldn't it have defeated the purpose if Rosa Parks wore a disguise when she sat at the front of the bus, so that no one would be able to tell what race she was?
When I was younger I worked for a nonprofit that supported women in non-traditional fields. I guess I'm just too tired to fight anymore. I'm no Rosa Parks. When given the choice of spending my time hacking or discussing gender issues, I will pick hacking every time. I deeply respect the folks who have the energy to tackle the issue head on.
BTW, my clients do eventually find out that I am a woman when we do phone calls.
Exactly. I would like to hide my gender not for any gender related issues but for purely aesthetic reasons. You could play a game of “which one doesn't belong” with my profile and gender would win. There is no reason to explicitly name my gender in my profile. Google did a nice job with making nearly everything optional and making sure your profile looks great no matter how much or little information you enter, gender just sticks out like a sore thumb.
Google should just leave everything as it is and let us hide gender. Other profile fields already have an UI for doing just that.
That's not to say that other reasons for hiding the gender are invalid, it's just not even necessary to discuss them. Google should allow us to hide the gender even if those reasons were invalid.
At first glance at your comment I said "how would that help". Then I thought about it a second time, and I think this is actually a legitimate way to approach the problem of gender identification. So +1 for me.
Some might prefer the gender-neutral pronoun "they".
However, I think doing things this way is going to be quite difficult to implement when you consider multiple languages. Male/Female/Other with an option to hide this information is much easier a solution.
I'm British: I use it quite often. Maybe it's rarer in the US?
"John was late for dinner. They were caught in traffic." is perfectly correct usage (however if you'd just called somebody by a gender-specific name there's not much point in then being gender-neutral).
While I believe that people get overly sensitive about gender (or any politicall-incorrectness), I also believe that it is in their right to do so, and if Google does fulfil this request then all the better for it.
Aside, though, this post by Randall seems a little overkill at this stage... unless Google has taken an obvious stance on the issue there is no reason to take umbrage.
He's making a point since this is such a frequently overlooked issue. By raising awareness, other companies and startups are less likely to make this mistake.
What's wrong with talking about what you earn? I can understand if it was pride/ego preventing people from talking about it. But from the workers' perspective wouldn't it be better to know what the going rates are to make sure you aren't getting ripped off for your work.
"Looking for co-founder" is another way of saying "I have no money to pay for a technical team so I'm offering you a stake in a potentially successful venture". Makes sense to me.
